Sharepoint Portal Steamlines Business Processes At Malaysia's Leading Electrical Chain Store

“SharePoint Portal helps streamline Senheng’s business processes by enabling information flow across the enterprise leading to better planning and decisions. It also connects people and knowledge so that staff can leverage relevant information across business processes and work more efficiently.”

Lim Kim Heng, Managing Director, Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd.

For leading Malaysian electrical chain store Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd, the preservation and sharing of knowledge within an organization is a key ingredient for business success. However, Senheng had difficulty attaining this goal as it was bogged down by systems that could not provide timely and accurate information.

To overcome this obstacle, Senheng decided to set up a knowledge library so that valuable information could be retained, preserved and shared. Senheng chose Microsoft’s SharePoint Services as the preferred platform for efficient information sharing and collaboration. The knowledge portal enables Senheng’s wealth of knowledge to be digitalized and made accessible to staff anytime and from anywhere.

Lim sees the preservation and sharing of knowledge as a key ingredient for success. “For example, if a section head resigns, the knowledge he has will no longer be available. Our aim is to retain the knowledge that resides with our staff and share it. If we can put it into a knowledge library, we will be able to pass it on from one generation to another,” he adds.
In the past, retaining knowledge within the organization was basically done manually. Lim points to his experience of having to write out his vision, directions and thoughts via hundreds of memos and documents over the years.
“I felt very tired having to write memos and to give briefings and speeches to my staff. And now with about 800 staff nationwide, sharing my knowledge with them becomes even more difficult,” he adds.

Solution
To make Lim’s vision of a knowledge library a reality, Senheng needed to have a platform for efficient information sharing and collaboration. This meant putting in place a system where the wealth of knowledge could be digitalized and made accessible to staff anytime and from anywhere.
The company evaluated several portal solutions including Microsoft’s SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and IBM’s WebSphere Portal. Though WebSphere Portal was a serious contender, Senheng eventually selected Microsoft’s SharePoint Services as the platform for its knowledge portal project codenamed SmartSHIP (Smart Senheng Intelligence Portal).

The SmartSHIP solution was deployed on SharePoint Portal Server running on Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 as the database. SharePoint Portal Server provides organizations with a secure, scalable, enterprise portal server built upon Windows SharePoint Services technology in Windows Server 2003.

Windows SharePoint Services is an integrated portfolio of collaboration and communication services to connect people, information, processes, and systems both within and beyond the organizational firewall.

According to Lim, SharePoint Portal Server got the nod because its features and functionalities more than met Senheng’s requirements and its total cost of ownership was significantly lower compared to WebSphere Portal.

Another reason was its ease of integration with other Microsoft applications. “Because it is a component of the Windows platform, SharePoint Portal is more tightly integrated with applications such as Microsoft Office which our staff are familiar with. With SharePoint Portal, we are able to leverage on our existing IT investments.”

He adds that with SharePoint Portal having the familiar Windows interface, staff training costs were kept to a minimum. “It is very user friendly. Since our staff are familiar with Microsoft applications, they could pick it up easily,” says Lim.

Microsoft solution partner V-Work Sdn Bhd, which specializes in Intranet portal solutions, was engaged to implement the solution. V-Work’s responsibilities included helping Senheng’s knowledge officers structure the information architecture or taxonomy of the portal, and train users and administrators to self-manage the portal.

“The portal is used by about 180 executives and management users, with the objectives to improve information flow and eventually the ability to make the right decisions with
improved knowledge sharing,” says Lim.

For starters, the content uploaded on the portal includes the company’s standard operating procedures, best practices, product information and marketing promotions.

“What we have done so far is Phase 1 of the portal project, which is laying the information sharing foundation. Future plans include improving workflow and having more Intranet applications,” says Tennyson K.S. Lee, Managing Consultant of V-Work.

Lee points out that user friendly solution also promotes the concept of self-service within Senheng. “Several of their power users or secondary administrators can now administer a smaller website on their own such as at a remote branch.”

“Traditionally, this would have been difficult as everything had to be done by the IT Department,” he says.

“We have a number of secretaries who are publishing (content on the portal) on behalf of their bosses. We don’t need to employ someone specifically to do this job,” says Lim, adding this makes the portal easy and cost effective to administer.

Benefits

Improves Decision-Making
The SharePoint Portal solution has helped make Senheng a more agile company, enhancing its decision-making processes. “The portal streamlines Senheng’s business processes by enabling information flow across the enterprise leading to better planning and decisions,” says Lim.

“It has a built-in search engine which facilitates obtaining the desired information. Staff no longer need to search through huge volumes of paper documents.

“Previously, it may have taken an hour to physically search for the information. Now with the portal, they can find the information in less than five minutes.

“In the past, we needed to be in the office to search for documents. Now, we can access the portal anytime, from anywhere with Internet access.”

These advantages enable staff to be more efficient and allow them to focus on more important tasks, he says. “The portal connects people and knowledge so that our staff can leverage relevant information across business processes and work more efficiently,” Lim states.

Long Term Cost Savings
Lim sees potential savings through the self-help nature of the SharePoint Portal solution. For example, employees frequently had to call their superiors to seek clarification on standard operating procedures or company policies. However, such information is now available online via the portal and can be retrieved easily by the staff themselves.

“They don’t have to call up the management so often to check on such matters. The number of such telephone calls has been reduced significantly.

“Our management is also happy because they don’t have to field so many of such calls and inquiries, allowing them to concentrate on running the business effectively.” Given that Senheng runs a nationwide operation, it is enjoying savings on phone calls, says Lim.

Senheng also views the SharePoint Portal solution as a “Smart Learning Tool” which aids in developing a learning culture within the company. “The system is very useful for new staff. They don’t have to depend on colleagues as they can learn from the system anytime,” he adds.
The SharePoint Portal solution also facilitates communications as new promotions and events are announced to registered users via email updates generated automatically by the portal.

Managing Results
The SharePoint Portal solution allows Senheng to shift its focus from managing resources to managing results. “This means we work for our shareholders (and customers) to increase the value of their investments,” Lim explains.

“We want our staff to focus more on customer satisfaction rather than managing (human) resources. We want the system to be self-managing. If processes can be automated, then let it be automated.

“This allows the leader is to apply the knowledge to set directions for the staff, rather than getting bogged down in daily operations management,” he adds.

Strategic Advantage
Lim sees the SharePoint Portal solution as giving Senheng a competitive advantage in maintaining its leadership position in the industry.

“It offers us a distinctive business model with a unique value, and which will be hard to be imitated or recreated by the competition. With tools such as SharePoint Portal, we can work smart rather than working hard.”

“The solution gives Senheng the ability to see the interconnectedness (of the business environment) and provides us with insights needed to be one step ahead of the competition,” states Lim.

Senheng also expects to derived greater benefits from the SharePoint platform in the near future when workflow-based applications are rolled out to automate processes such as leave applications and expenses claims.

Lim adds that another upcoming initiative which leverages on the SharePoint platform is a business intelligence (BI) application which is currently being developed.

Overview
Country: Malaysia
Industry: Retail

Customer Profile
Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd is one of Malaysia’s leading electrical chain stores with over 70 outlets nationwide. Established in 1989, the company is helmed by the Lim brothers and its annual sales exceed RM300 million.

Business Situation
Senheng wanted to set up a knowledge library so that valuable information could be retained, preserved and shared within the company. However, the company was handicapped because its existing business systems could not provide timely and accurate information.

Solution
The company selected Microsoft’s SharePoint Services as the platform for efficient information sharing and collaboration. The knowledge portal was deployed on SharePoint Portal Server running on Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft SQL Server 2000.

Benefits

• Improves decision-making
• Long term cost savings
• Managing results
• Strategic advantage
  

For More Information
To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com/malaysia

For other case studies in this series, click here


For more information about Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd’s products and services, call +6(03) 9285 4544 or visit the Web site at: www.senheng.com.my

To contact V-Work Sdn Bhd, call +6(03) 7666 6905 or visit the Web site at: www.valuedwork.com